


Kriptos 9

by Nicky53



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Space, Artist Lance (Voltron), Deal?, Domestic Fluff, Even the future has pronoun problems, Keith loves Criminal Minds prove me wrong, Lance in a dress, M/M, Nerd Keith (Voltron), Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, Porn With Plot, Smut, Tongue Piercings, Wow that turned into smut fast, but I’ll make it up to you with smut, but like not the same space as voltron?, mature Keith, probs will be some angst, wow don’t see that tag everyday
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-13
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-05-21 16:49:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14919194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nicky53/pseuds/Nicky53
Summary: Lance and Keith’s adventures in space! Except they’re not on voltron. And they’re like 27. And they’re  already together.Keith has been dating Lance for 2 years now. One year ago Keith, a programmer for Voltron industries, was transferred to work on space station Dreamer 1-1-5. Lance being the amazing boyfriend he is packed up his stuff and life on Earth to move to Dreamer with Keith. Lance is an up and coming modern artist just trying to make his way through the dangerous world of art, drugs and money.





	1. The forgotten Electric bill

**Author's Note:**

> Hi y’all! Please enjoy my 100% experimental, just for fun klance AU fic! Not sure how long it’ll end up being but I will promise you lots of fluff and humor and smut! Probably some angst sorry... but probs not too much! Please give me feedback, ask questions, and give suggestions! Also for Kriptos I took my inspiration from the scene at the end of the movie interstellar. So basically a man made planet.. kinda? If you want you can check it out here http://interstellarfilm.wikia.com/wiki/Cooper_Station  
> Anyway! Hope you enjoy! Thanks for reading!

"OW, Fuck!" Keith yelled, into the darkness. His hands reached out, and grabbed the kitchen counter that was guilty of his pain. "Lance, where are you? Why aren't the lights working?"

"I forgot to pay the energy bill, again." A voice said from behind him.

Keith yelped- in an extremely manly way thank you very much. "Jesus Lance! Give me a heart attack, would you. I've had enough surprises today." 

"Sorry," Lance snickered, "I'll send it in tomorrow. Promise." He flicked on a flashlight, shining it into Keith's eyes. "We’ll just eat by electric candlelight and glow sticks. It'll be all romantic n' shit." Twirling on his heels, he left Keith with no choice but to follow his only source of light in the dark room. 

Keith hurriedly threw his book bag and leather jacket into their closet, not bothering to hang them up. After years of sharing a room with Shiro, who threw a fit- aka gave Keith “the talk” he’d heard a million times about the importance of cleanliness- at the sight of a single shred of clothing on the floor, Keith prided himself on the state of his room. But after a year of cleaning up after Lance, Keith had begun to lose some of that order… living with Lance and living in a neat house were not two things that could both be attained. Following Lance;s beacon of light Keith retorted "And how are we going to cook genius? Remember that 'amazing' electric stove you bought last year?" 

"I don't even need to turn around, to know you're using finger air quotes mullet head. I don’t even know where you picked that habit up from, I mean I knew you're faily was old fashion but still!” Keith watched the beam of light fly around the air as Lance flung his hands up in the air. And he gave Keith a hard time for using air quotes. “And let me remind you,” Lance continued, “how many times you lit that old gas stove on fire. Our food tasted like fire extinguisher for months!" Lance once again through his hands up in the air dramatically, this time nearly hitting Keith with the ancient metal flashlight. He’d luckley lived through enough years of Lance's exuberant hand gestures to know when to duck. He even had an old scar from the one time they went golfing, a short excursion that ending with a long trip to the hospital(Lance was from then on ban from talking whilst holding a golf club). "Anyway," Lance continued "I already picked up food from that Indian place down the street."

Finishing their dangerous, dark trek through the living room, which was cluttered with all sorts of sharp art supplies, Lance entered the dining room with Keith a few steps(for his own safety) behind. It was a small room, connected to the living room, balcony, and the hallway that lead to their bedroom. Usually there was multiple lights on, courtesy of Lance's terrible habit of forgetting to turn them off. To be fair, the past owners seemed to have had a bit of a lamp fetish. This theory was backed up by both the excessive lamps and chandeliers scattered throughout the apartment, and the Lamp Lovers magazine they received every month without fail. But tonight, without the eleven separate lights turned on, the room seemed smaller, homier. Lance had hung glow sticks from the crystal chandelier, and electric candles were placed uniformly around and on the table. 

"Oh. Wow," Keith coughed, starting to feel a little bad about the way he’d first reacted to their lack of light, "I'm actually quite impressed. Is there a specific occasion for this? Or is this just your apology for not paying the electric bill?"

"More of a spur of the moment idea, but apology dinner sounds better." Lance said. His hands snaked around Keith's waist. Hugging him from behind. He pressed his face into Keith's silky hair. "I'm sorry, babe. I really did forget."

"I know, it's fine.” Keith sighed, “Let's eat, eh?"

Lance snorted into his neck, "Careful Kogane, your Canadian is showing through."

"Oh we wouldn't want that, ehh? Before you know it I'll be dissing the Bruins in front of your father! Go Oilers!" Keith cheered, as he raced around the table avoiding Lance's look of horror.

"Oh don't you even joke about that. I swear if you bring that up this thanksgiving dinner Mom will never forgive you." 

"Just remember that next time you forget to pay the electric bill." Keith quipped. Digging into their meal, the atmosphere fell into a comfortable silence.

\----

Keith lay beside Lance, laptop out, furiously typing. The numbers flashing on the screen, constantly shifting, were a mystery to Lance. He often lay snuggled up against Keith at this time, staring in wonder as he finished up his work for the day. Keith had tried to explain it to him one night. Lance tried to stay awake, he really did. But he fell asleep. Within five minutes. Oops? 

Keith's eyebrows furrowed, while he pushed his glasses up from their constant slide down his nose bridge. Sighing he closed his laptop, set it aside, carefully removed his glasses, and buried himself deep into the many blankets and comforters. Rolling onto his left side, he faced Lance. "So," Keith started.

"So." Lance replied, with a sleepy smile.

"My boss called me into her office today."

"Should I get the champagne or the vodka?" Lance ventured. 

"She wants to transfer me," Keith continued, ignoring Lance's comment, "to Kriptos 9."

"That's great Keith!" Lance gasped, his hands grasped Keith’s face, pulling him in for a short excited kiss.

"Yeah? You're okay with moving, again?" Keith asked, pulling back just enough that the tips of their noses brushed. A shy smile slowly forming on his face.

"Hey, yeah of course! It'll be an adventure." Lance beamed, dramatically flipping onto his back and waving his hand through the air as if painting a picture. "Filled with fancy new computers for you, and I can do a series on the phosphorescence aquatic life! And I've got a bunch of customers on K9! And I've heard the nightlife scene is great there. And--" Keith cut him off with a kiss.

"Have I ever told you how great you are?" Keith murmured against Lance’s lips.

"You know I don't think you have, you'll just have to tell me again." Lance replied. “Or even better show me.” Lance flipped his hair, now thick and almost down to his shoulders- so different from the overgrown buzz cut he had wore when they first met- and rolled over once more, but this time right onto Keith’s stomach. Sitting up and bending his knees Lance straddle him. Seating himself so their hips were perfectly aligned. Lance bent down and nipped at Keith’s bottom lip.

Keith moved to rise up and deepen their kiss but was immediately pushed back down by a firm hand on his chest. He felt Lance’s lips stretch into a smile as another hand snuck around his head and latched onto his hair, effectively pinning his head to the bed. “Mmmh!” Keith moaned, arching his neck against Lance’s hand. Both trying to deepen their kiss and tighten Lance’s grip on his hair. Hearing his plea, Lance pressed forward.

Lance’s tongue shot out and dove into Keith's mouth. Still pinned to the mattress with Lance’s iron grip on his hair Keith had no option but to open his jaw wider, letting Lance in. Keith felt Lance’s spiky rubber tongue bar rub against his the roof his mouth. A bolt of arousal shot through his body, groaning Keith’s hips bucked up against Lance’s.

Lance enjoyed kissing as much as Keith enjoyed hair pulling- which was a lot. He was the type of person who without a push in the ‘right’ direction(which in Keith’s opinion was just due south of his lips) would be happy to torture Keith for hours with long makeout sessions and copious amounts of grinding. Not that Keith necessarily minded those slow, heat building hours, patience was not his forte, especially after 11pm. Yeah, no. He planned to be asleep by at least 12:30 and that wasn’t going to happened if Lance kept this up. 

Lucky for Keith he knew just the way to speed things up. 

Digging his nails into Lance’s back and racking them down, leaving red marks in their wake, he grabbed two handfuls of Lance’s ass and pressing his hips up grinding their pulsing erections together. Once Keith felt Lance’s sharp inhale, he released one hand only to bring it down with a sharp smack. 

“Ughhh! Mmmh, Oh my God Keith, Babe.” Lance moaned, breaking away from their kiss and loosening his grip on Keith’s hair. Seizing the moment, Keith grunted and used his position under Lance to unseat him with a sharp rock of his hips and push him unto his back. Rolling over and onto Lance, Keith dug his knees into the mattress and rolled his hips grinding down onto Lances dick. Still recovering from the sudden switch in positions Lance’s hands scrambled to grab onto something. Some part of Keith. 

Those hands quickly landed on Keiths dick, well they tried to. Moaning Lance yanked at Keith's boxers, attempting to remove them in any way(or apparently any direction) possible. “Keith,” Lance groaned, almost whimpering, “Why are your shorts still on?? Get them off!” Lance’s hips bucked up, grinding against Keith’s clothed length while simultaneously tugging his boxers down.

While it was quite entertaining to watch Lance helplessly struggle, pinned beneath Keith, his dick pulsed and strained uncomfortably against the confines of his briefs. Quickly, Keith rolled off Lance, slipped off his now uncomfortably wet underwear, and grabbed the bottle of lube from their bedside table. 

With a click he uncapped the bottle, pouring a generous amount of bubble gum pink lube onto his palm. ‘It tastes good!’ Lance had insisted. Right now Keith did not give two shits what color the lube was as long as it would be on his dick in the next five seconds. 

Warming it between his fingers, Keith straddled a squirming Lance and gently grabbed both their lengths in one of his hands. Lances hands flitted across his body. Everywhere and nowhere at the sametime. His feather light touches, grazes ran up and down his side. 

Moaning, he picked up his speed. Hand flying up and down their dicks. Keith groaned as he felt the pulsing and swelling of Lances hard length against his own. 

Suddenly Lance’s feather light touches turned to hot searing nails down his back. Keith threw his head back. “Ahhhhh. Ugghhh Fuckk.”

“I’m close babe.” He heard Lance pant. “Fuck yes. Yes just like that.” Lance’s hips twitched, not wanting to disturb Keiths rhythm but burning to move. 

Tightening his grip ever so slightly, Keith bucked his hips forward into his hand and against Lance’s dick. “Come for me Lance. Come on baby I know you want it. So fucking pretty under me like this.” Keith babbled. 

In one final pull and thrust, Keith had Lance coming all over both their lengths and Keith’s hand. Pulling off Lance’s dick, he leaned over Lance, still jacking off his own length. “Ughhh Lance, Lance. Fuck touch, please. Hair.” 

Getting the message, Lance reached up grabbing a fistful of Keith’s hair and pulling him down for a searing kiss. Teeth clacked together as Lance’s tongue dove deep into Keith’s mouth. Arching his back, Keith came explosively over and onto Lances stomach. 

“Mmm” Keith moaned, collapsing onto Lance. His hand now running gently through his black mullet. 

“Hey you know I love you but you better not fall asleep on me like this” Lance said with a chuckle. Hand still combing through Keith’s hair. “Ugh okay move, I’ll get a washcloth.” Lance pushed a half asleep Keith over and rolled out of bed, padding over to the bathroom. 

Awake just enough to know not to roll over onto his sticky stomach Keith, listened to the sound of their faucet turn on, off, then on again. Lance eventually returned with a warm wet cloth, gently wiping the sticky cum off Keith’s stomach. Lance leaned down and pressed a kiss to Keith’s clean stomach, then to his chest, then lips then forehead, softly smiling. Throwing the washcloth into his full hamper, Lance climbed into bed, switching the battery powered fairy lights off and snuggling down into the covers. Grabbing Keith’s waist and pulling him close. Lance buried his head in Keith’s neck.

“Mmm, love you.” Lance sighed.

“Love you too” Keith whispered, interlacing their fingers and falling into a deep peaceful sleep.


	2. 365 Million Miles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New character... who could they be? ;)

Warm light filters in through the cheap curtains making everything in the room take on a pink tinge, from the red hibiscuses painted on the walls to the old yellow lampshade. Lance rolls over onto the cool spot Keith had left open. Despite Keith's complaining, Lance new that he loved mornings. For reasons he couldn't understand, watching the artificial sunlights silently turn on, the brightness slowly increasing, relaxed Keith. The picture was so perfect that Lance had even woken up early to draw Keith on the rare occasion. 

To this day it's still his favorite piece. A young man sits at his kitchen counter, a red coffee cup clutched in both hands, the top of the mug pressed against his bottom lip. He stares out the wall sized window, watching the world wake up. But even seeing that perfect scene isn't enough to coax Lance out of bed every morning at 6 AM.

Limbs splayed out, starfish style, Lance stretches like a cat. Letting out a long whine, he rolls out of bed, slowly starting his own morning routine. At 9 AM, thank you very much. 

One coffee and two eggs later, Lance is ready to start the day. If it was up to him, the lights wouldn't even turn on till 9. But he’d already tried to pitching some ideas to that counsel, and despite his bribes with chocolate chip cookies, they unanimously denied ever single proposal. Sighing at the only time his cookie bribes have failed him, Lance entered his studio.

One of current pieces sits on an easel in the center of the room. It's bright red, orange and pink tones clashing with putred blue carpet. Yes putred blue is a color despite lance, AN ARTIST, not even knowing it existed. And yes he hoped the majority of the universe would live in blissful ignorance of its existence. Knowing it wouldn't be long before the carpet would be stained, Lance and Keith had picked out the cheapest one they could find; it was just their luck that it happened to be the ugliest color imaginable. That carpet had been one of their first purchases on Dreamer 1-1-5. 

7 months ago

"Hello, and welcome to Dreamer 1-1-5. Here we are lucky to have access to the newest and most reliable Earth simulator technology. On Dreamer 1-1-5 you will find opportunities like nowhere else..." The welcome lady droned on over the speaker system. Lance and Keith waited anxiously for their train to arrive. 

"All this fancy technology and they still can't get public transportation to run on time." Lance said nervously, shifting from one foot to the other. Snorting a bit, he said, "I don't know but if you ask me, it's no different than Boston." But it was nothing like Boston. No, they were 365 million miles from Boston. 

Tapping his fingers on Keith's hand and rolling his tongue piercing between his teeth, Lance couldn't sit still. Not that he ever could, but today was worse than usual. Small changes made him fidgety. Big changes, like moving 365 MILLION miles away from home, made him an anxiety ridden sweaty mess; 365 million miles and increasing. Every second they were on this tiny "Earth simulating" piece of metal, revolving around Jupiter's moon Callisto, the farther the were moving from home. What had he agreed to? What on Earth had been going through his mind? 

The truth was Lance knew exactly what had been going through his fucking mind, 'Oh that's great Keith! It'll be an adventure!' "Adventure my ass."

"Sorry?" Keith glanced over at him, that nervous, excited smile still plastered on his face. It had been there from the moment they woke up that morning, at the airport, through the entire plane, rocket, and shuttle ride, up until now. Seeing Lance's nervous state his smile drained, "Lance, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." Lance snapped, "Why would anything be wrong? It's not like we're on a flimsy piece of metal, revolving around a stupid rock, that IN TURN is revolving around a giant ball of gas! AND-" his voice had now risen to a concerning level. Everyone on the platform was sending sympathetic glances towards Keith. And in response, Keith was sending 'please god someone help me' glances to anyone he could make eye contact with.

Despite the fact the two men had known eachother since high school, and had been dating for about two years now, Keith had never been good at handling Lance’s freak outs. He wasn’t good at calming people down. That really wasn’t his thing. That was Lance’s thing, Shiro’s thing, Hunk’s thing. It was basically everyone’s thing except his! Oh god where was Shiro when he needed him. Maybe he could call him? What time was it in California right now? 

Suddenly, in the middle of Lance’s screaming fit and Keith’s internal panicking, a young man tapped Lance on the shoulder, "Excuse me sir, but I just realized who you are. You're Lance McClain!” the stranger beamed. “The acrylic artist! From Earth, right? I had no idea you were moving to Dreamer!" The man stuck out his hand, a foxy grin on face, "I'm Lotor Zarkon. I just love your work!"

Silence. Lance looked down at his hand, then back up to his face. Slowly he offered his hand, Lotor immediately shook it, grinning and flipping his long white ponytail over a shoulder. "Um, hi." Lance said. A blush slowly spread across his face, thinking about his screaming from moments ago, realizing how he currently appeared to this man. Truthfully he almost never gets recognized by his fans by just his face, occasionally by his name. 

"This is so cool meeting you! And sorry to eavesdrop, but did you say you just moved here?" Immediately jumping into a conversation with Lance, apparently unaware of Keith’s presence. From behind Lance’s shoulder Keith eyed Lotor up and down. He was a tall, slender man. Probably just a few years older than himself, not more than 30 or so. He was wearing nice leather shoes, salmon pink skinny jeans and a simple white button up dotted with hibiscus and ferns. A nice quality leather book bag hung from his shoulder, copious amounts of pencils and papers(was that a sketchpad?) sticking out. His face was framed by gold dangling earrings and black rimmed rectangular glasses. He was- Keith had to admit- attractive.

"Uh yeah, we just got off the ship." Lance replied clearing her throat and gesturing to Keith and their bags, "Are you waiting for the train too? You should sit with us! From the looks of you're bag I’ve just had the pleasure of meeting a fellow artist?" Lance questioned, gesturing to the overstuffed book bag. Keith could see the tension drain from Lance’s shoulders.

Lotor beamed, showing off some of the whitest and straightest teeth Keith had ever seen. What was this man a model too? “Yes! I mean I’m no where as renowned as you, I mostly dabble in the commercial and logo business. Pays the bills.” Lotor shrugged. With the looks of his clothes and accessories Keith had a hard time imagining this guy ever struggled to pay his bills.

“Oh yeah! I totally get that.” Lance replied, his excessive hand movements revealing how engrossed he already was in the conversation. “And gee thanks. I really wouldn’t call myself renowned. I barely cover my half of the rent around here.” A blush spreading across Lance’s cheeks. “My partner here Keith pays most of the pills with his fancy smancy computer skills! You keep this rusty ship here up and running, right babe?” Turning towards his black haired boyfriend, Lance effectively dragged Keith into the conversation. 

“Um not exactly.” Keith mentally sighed, he hated explaining his job to people, especially Lance’s artist friends. “I’m actually a lights technician programmer and coder. I-”

Lucky for Keith, Lotor also appeared to have no interest in hearing about Keith’s confusing job. “Wow!” he interrupted. “That’s quite a mouthful there! Can’t imagine I’d understand it if you took a whole day to explain it! Lance, what have you been working on if I may ask?” Lotor quickly said brushing Keith aside

Keith pursed his lips as Lotor and Lance’s conversation rambled on without him. Lotor had been rude, no doubt about it, but it wasn’t as if Keith really had any interest in explaining his complicated job to him anyway. It was probably for the best Keith decided. Lance could have his uppity artist friends and Keith had well.. Lance. And of course Shiro and Hunk. Plus Keith was excited to meet his new partner at work! He’d heard great things about them. What was their name? Pitch? Pig? Pidgeon maybe? Anyway he would start work in a few days and so would Lance and they would make their separate friends. 

Lance and Lotor talked the whole train ride, up until Lotor’s stop. Exchanging numbers, they made plans to meet up so Lotor could show Lance the local art district. Which Keith assumed was artist slang for art hoe party scene and where to find the rich buyers. 

After Lotor left, Lance and Keith fell into an uncomfortable silence. The quiet hum of the train was the only noise in the empty car.

Lance cleared his throat, "I'm, uh" he glanced out the window, "I'm sorry about my freak out earlier. It was an immature response, and you didn't deserve that."

Keith sighed reaching out to grab his hand, "It's fine. I know this move is going to have it’s stressful moments, but we have to be honest with each other. Okay? Please, if something's bothering you tell me. Don't just bundle it up until you explode." Keith rubbed his thumb against the back of Lance’s hand. “We both knows how that ends.”

Lance open ended his mouth to reply, but the over head speaker interrupted him.

"All passengers be aware that the Platinum District is our last stop. Please take caution exiting the train. Thank you for riding with us on the Red Dreamer line. Have a good day."

"Well, this is our stop," Lance nervously grinned, and squeezed Keith's hand, "Ready?"

Keith returned the grin, and grabbed their luggage. "Let's go."

They two men exited the train, ready to find their new home, and collapse into bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y’all! Hope you enjoyed! If you have any suggestions or tips regarding writing anxious characters pls send them my way! I don’t have really any anxiety so I’m not super adept at writing it... And I know it seems weird to see a more mature Keith but that’s kinda how I imagine him once he’s older. Don’t worry we’ll get some fun emotionally constipated Keith flashbacks later on! Also I am not a tech savvy person sooo sorry Keith your jobs gonna stay nice and vague. Also I wonder who Keith’s partner could be....   
> Thanks for reading!! <3


	3. Something Red

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey babes! Just added a some new edits to this chapter I think some of the last paragraphs are different but it’s mostly just fixing my awful grammar and spelling. Once again sorry for the sporadic updates! Enjoy!!

Present

A square on one of the large interactive windows lit up with Lotor's caller ID. "Would you like to accept the incoming call from Lotor Zarkon?"

"Accept."

"Hey, how'd last night go? Did you use the romantic Pinterest dinner idea I sent you?" Lotor's voice filtered through the speaker.

"Yeah I did, and Keith totally forgave me for not sending in the bill." Lance laughed, but that little worm of guilt reminded him of its presents. Twirling his tongue piercing between his teeth, he added, "I have to send it in today though. I don't think I can play the romantic glow stick dinner card twice."

"Mm, true." Lotor agreed. "There's another auction tonight, you wanna come with me again? I summited some of our collaborations. After that we’ll go out to the den, yeah?"

A slimy, excited feeling coated Lance's insides. If he was being honest, he’d been avoiding Lotor. Lotor, the den, really the whole social scene that had become his work. Up until a month ago he’d been out most nights, networking; it was the key to any artists success. "Yeah, sounds like a plan!" he agreed, it was about time he got out of the house anyway and if he wanted to keep the money coming he needed to make regular appearances within the art world. And he could just bail early, instead of going to the den. "I've got some news to tell you too." Lance said belatedly, an afterthought. Soon it would be all over. Soon he wouldn’t have to worry about pleasing Lotor or anyone on this hunk of metal. He’d start a new life on Kriptos 9. There’s such thing as a straight edge artist right?

"Oooh, okay.” Lotor cooed, misreading his tone. “I'll be looking forward to it! I'll pick you up at 8, cool?" Lotor said.

"Yeah, see you then."

Sighing, Lance collapsed onto the dirty, old, squishy couch. The cushions sank down; like memory foam, they had held Lance's imprint since the day they moved here. The orange couch had been the only piece of furniture that came with the apartment. Despite Keith's pleas, Lance had insisted they kept the monstrosity. Keith gave in, under the condition that Lance would keep it in his studio and keep it at the very least sanitary. 

Ah yes, speaking of cleaning; his biggest vice. Lance was bad- no, scratch that, terrible- at keeping clean; in every sense of the word. When they first moved there, Lance had scrubbed that couch until his back ached. In the beginning, staying true to his promise, Lance cleaned the couch multiple times a week. Vacuuming it and removing the covers to wash them, but no matter how much work he put into it, the couch always kept that old musty smell and dark suspicious stains. A few months into their new life, washing the covers turned to febreezing them, and vacuuming switched to a few good whacks to remove the dust. Now, lying on the couch, Lance realized he hadn't cleaned the musty thing in months. he’d given up without even realizing it. Once Keith had gotten so fed up that he had cleaned it himself. How long ago had that been now? That slimy guilt worm twitched deep within him. He’d deal with it later, maybe tomorrow, for now he had to plan his outfit for the auction tonight. That was more important.

"Ugh" Lance grunted, pulling himself off the dirty couch. He made his way through the apartment, into his and Keith's walk-in closet. Lance’s side overflowing with colorful cocktail dresses and suits. They ranged from silky and sleek to fluffy and flowered with too many bows to count; all of them, their own masterpiece. Most had been 'doKeithions,' better called bribes, from hopeful art gallery owners. They practically fell at his and Lotor’s feet nowadays, begging them to come to their parties and display their art in their galleries. And it really was all thanks to Lotor. And of courses his father’s deep pockets; yes, that had been a nice kickstart. It had not been long after he’d met Lance that he'd proved himself more than just an aspiring artist. 

Lance hummed to himself, giddily running his hand across the long rack of silky clothes. The fabrics and styles were more diverse than the universe itself. Each held their own memories. Different parties, different highs. Mmm he loved them more than anything(except Keith of course). Except one. His hand paused at the feel of the too soft, velvet fabric. Too soft, too innocent. He’d have throw it away months ago, if it wasn't Keith's favorite. But no matter, he gave the floor length red velvet gown one last glance before shoving it back into line with the others. Pulling out a tight blue and gold dress with red trim, a memory flew through his mind.

5 Months ago

"So? What'd ya think?" Lance said, stepping out of the changing room, with a playful grin and arms thrown out in a classic Lance pose.

Keith raised an eyebrow, "You look, um," Keith's eyes swept up and down Lance's outfit. His shoes were gold strappy stilettos, paired with white lacy tights and a short, latex dress that could’ve painted on. To set it all off, a thick, gold choker was wrapped around his neck. The dress itself was gold and blue, which by itself was gorgeous, but then there was the red. The vibrant trim started at the bottom, snaked its way up the dress and around Lance's arm like a vine. It was a head turner, that was for sure. 

"You look just drop, dead gorgeous, Lance." Lotor said from behind Keith. He made his way across the room, turning Lance to face the mirror. His mischievous smile danced on his lips, "Like someone to bow down to." Leaning down, he whispered the last part into his ear, "Like someone to fear."

A rush of adrenaline shot through Lance’s body. He laughed “I don’t know Lotor.” Feeling torn between the relief of not disappointing Keith and the thrill of playing Lotor’s game, Lance continued to babble on. “I- I mean I like it- Love it I mean, haha. But I really don’t know. I’m not the type of person that strikes fear in others. Plus they’re my clients! I like being approachable.” Lance pursed his lips. “You know, I like being me. I don’t feel like that in this dress. I feel like I’m lying to someone. But it’s- I mean- I don’t know. Keith-” He turned to once again ask his boyfriends opinion. Unsure of what he hoped to hear.

"You know, I think that red velvet one you already have looks nicer on you." Keith blurted out before Lotor could interrupt him again. As the months had past Keith had learned that if he was going to be heard around Lotor he needed to speak up. Lotor was a loud man. In every sense of the word. "I think the other gown matches your personality better.” Keith continued. “And that's what you're trying to portray,” He could literally feel Lotor’s eyes burning holes into his back, “to the clients, I mean."

 

Lotor watched Lance's wavering expression, tipping towards Keith's argument. "Well I actually think this dress matches Lance better than the velvet one. This one is much bolder, it'll make him much more memorable," The foxy smile slid onto his face, "to the clients, I mean."

Keith eyes flared. "I see what you're saying but, I have know Lance for much longer than you and he’s always been a quite memorable person. No matter how flashy his clothes are." Pursing his lips, he added, "and personally I think-"

Turning towards Lotor once again, Lance said, “I’m sorry, I think he’s right Lotor. I mean I would never had worn this back on Earth. And I think I can make a statement with just myself, my art and our collaborations.” He laughed nervously, shifting uncomfortably in the dress, tugging at the trim. “And hey, I’m not too bad on the eyes no matter how flashy my outfit, right babe?” Sending a wink Keith’s way, he was sure of his decision. It was about the art after all.

“Hm, pity.” Lotor commented. “Well if you change your mind we can just comeback.” Turning to the store clerk he said, “Keep it on hold, would you dear? We’ll probably be back. So indecisive this one!” Lotor said putting a hand on Lance’s shoulder with a (strained)chuckle, manicured nails leaving indents on the spandex. “Well, shall we? I wanna go check out those suits we saw in Ann Taylor!”

Keith glanced at his watch as Lance returned to the dressing room. Through the curtains he heard Lotor’s endless stream of backhanded insults continue. Sighing he took off the tight dress. Keith was always so bored looking on these shopping trips. He’d told him he didn’t need come, but Keith was glued to his side the minute he heard Lotor would be there. Really men could be so ridiculous.

“Oh Keith! Almost forgot you were there!” Lotor laughed. “So quiet today aren’t we! Though I guess that's you everyday.” Lotor hummed, Lance imagine him looking over his nails, meticulously looking for chips. “Lance, doll, we don’t have all day!”

Later that night, under the influence of a multitude of substances, Lance and Lotor had in fact returned to the store purchasing the dress. On their way to the den Lance changed into it in a starbucks bathroom, shoving the red velvet dress into an empty shopping bag.


	4. Awkward Introductions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey babes! Hope everyone’s doing well!! I’m currently just enjoying having service; aka replying to all my friends “where the fuck are you” messages. I’m super excited to finally post this chapter, it’s one of my favorites so far. Hope y’all enjoy!! (Sorry not sorry for all the flashbacks. There’s probably going to be a lot for the next couple chapters but then it’ll calm down)

7 months ago  
Keith looked out the window of the train. He felt those first day jitters lodged in the pit of his stomach. His earbuds were set to full volume, playing the playlist Shiro had made him for the rocket ship to Dreamer. Despite his everlasting love for the electronic music group ALT and the Pigeon, he was too on edge to listen to a full song, skipping each track after only about a third of the song had played.

Out the window was a far reaching green fields filled with all varieties of crops. Though the only thing Keith could recognize was corn.. There was a reason he was a coder and not a farmer.. Or really anything else besides a class one computer geek. 

His dream job as a kid had been an FBI technician. Him and his mom spent hours upon hours watching reruns of the early 2000s crime show Criminal Minds. From those days on, Penelope Garcia was his hero. Beautiful, badass, nerdy. Sassy and flirtatious, and absolutely magnificently over the top, his mother couldn’t stop laughing when she first met Lance. Immediately pulling out a video of 12 year old Keith proclaiming his love for Garcia and his plans to marry her. Keith guessed Lance did have a few similar characteristics… Okay maybe more than a few. But he was still hopeless when it came to anything involving a computer.

“Arriving at ‘Voltron Industries’” The announcer proclaimed, interrupting Keith’s day dream of Lance sitting in an office chair with only Keith’s glasses on and a copy of Computers for idiots on his lap. “Keith, babe. Help me. I just can’t do it without your help.” Keith snorted. He could imagine the exact puppy dog eyes Lance would use. Except there was nothing sexy about trying to explain computers to Lance. More like headache inducing.

Keith rose from his seat and walked out of the train station and into the massive skyscraper labeled Voltron Industries in rainbow bubble letters. Hm a little cheesy if you asked Keith, but who was he to complain with how much they paid him.

He walked up to the front desk preparing for human interaction. Clearing his throat he said, “Um, hi. My names Keith Kogane… I just transferred here?” Why did he phrase that as a question. “I mean I definitely did just transfer here ha ha. Um, I’m your new lights technician.” Oh god why wasn’t he interrupting Keith. “Um, where-?”

Finally looking up from his book, the man met his eyes. Up and down- well as far down as the desk went, about Keith's belly button. “Yes, I was told we’d be expecting you.” A dry smile, looking back down at his book the man drawled, “Your partner will show you around. She’s waiting in office 3013. 3rd floor.” He turned the page, sighing when he saw Keith still standing there looking unsure. “The elevators are straight ahead to the right. Did you need something else?”

“Oh, um no thanks.” Keith mumbled walking away. 

He arched his neck up to get a better look at the building. It was incredible. A work of art by itself with spiral staircases leading to more floors than Keith could count. Trees grew from a garden in the center of the open ceiling while different vines and flowers grew up the stairs and glass walled offices. The entirety of the inside seemed to made of wood. There were few doors, but the ones that did exist were round. The building itself seemed alive. Like a massive tree or roots system. 

He reached the elevator, and stepped inside. Was it made of rock? No, some sort of synthetic wood? He ran his hand over the walls and pressed the button for the 30th floor. Just as the doors begun to close a women slipped in and jammed the 46th floor button.

The women looked out of breath and she slipped against the wall once the the elevator begun to move up. She was tall and slim. Her skin dark against Keith's pale tone. Surveying her, his couldn’t place what she looked familiar. Surely he wouldn’t forget someone this striking. Her hair was white and long curled strands fell from her loose bun. Wearing an obviously expansive tailored grey suit and colorful flats, her paycheck was definitely far above Keith's. She gave him a kind smile, noticing his hand still stroking the wall she spoke. “It's petrified wood.”

Huh?” Keith elegantly replied.

“The elevator. It's made out of petrified wood.” She repeated gesturing to his hand, still awkwardly feeling the wall. “Most of the building is, in fact. Beautiful isn’t it?”

Keith looked down at his hand and snatched it back. Oh my God how long had he been stroking the wall. Great first impression Keith. “Oh. The wall. Yes.” Keith blurted. “Um hi I’m Keith Kogane, I just transferred here from the Earth Branch.” He stuck his hand out. Yes he’d had the same introduction since he was 5 but it had yet to fail him… at least two miseribly.

The woman beamed and happily shook his hand. “Oh of course! Keith! Yes I actually requested you're transfer. I’m-” It was at this moment Keith realized two things:  
This woman was the most beautiful human being he had ever seen.  
This woman was also  
“Allura Alfor. I’m the Head Manager of this branch.” His boss. Well boss’s boss. Wait no she was his boss’s boss’s boss. Oh god maybe it was more than that. Oh god how did he not recognize her. OH GOD and now he was just awkwardly standing here shaking her hand for a solid 15 seconds too long. He quickly let go.

“I- Wow. I’m so sorry I didn’t recognize you! I just arrived yesterday. Thank you for transferring me!” Keith started to bow before he quickly caught himself, turning it into a far less awkward head nod. Fuck why was he bowing? He literally only bowed to one person in the universe. That was his grandma. Allura was not his Grandma. Though he guessed they were both very intimidating, powerful women…

Luckily, before Keith could do anything really stupid. Like compare Allura to his Grandma out loud, the elevator arrived at the 30th floor. With a polite but hasty goodbye Keith escaped the elevator. He only almost bowed again once.

Too soon after that horrible first impression, Keith found himself in front of office 3013. “Okay Keith,” he quietly murmured to himself, “don’t fuck this up. You’re going to be working with this person every single day for the foreseeable future. Okay, you got this.” Keith said mentally preparing himself for more human interaction. Raising his fist to knock on the door, “Okay!” sadly that last ‘okay’ was a little too loud, along with the rest of his murmuring and the door swung open with his hand still hovering above the door.

“What in god's name is going on out here!” Keith heard the voice, he saw the door open, but where was the owner of both of these actions. He looked down.

“Oh,” about a solid foot below his eyeline, Keith saw the perpetrator. “Hi.”

“Hello…?” The child responded. “Look if you're here for IT help, once again, I don’t care who sent you, this is NOT my job.” Oh no, the child was angry. “Look!” they pointed to the door name tag. “‘Pidge Holt: Lights Technician’ NOT your IT guy.” The child glared up at Keith.

“Um, no. I’m not here for help.” Keith cleared his throat, “My name’s Keith Kogane. I’m your new partner.” He offered his hand.

“Oh!” Pidge’s(what kinda name was that?) face immediately brightened and grabbed Keith's hand, “Hi! I almost forgot you were coming today! Well don’t just stand there like a dead Cyborg, come in!” Pidge returned to their desk. “And shut the door. If you're as nerdy as you look I highly doubt you want people coming in a bothering us anymore than me.” 

Keith stepped in and surveyed the office. It was small, but the wooden walls and wall sized window across from the door gave the crowded room a more spacious feel. There were two desks. Keith’s(well he assumed it was his) was cleaned off with only a phone and three monitors mounted on the wall in front of it. Pidge’s half of the room was.. less.. neat. Blueprints were taped, stapled and stuck onto every inch of the wall, sometimes with was looked like old robotic parts or scrap metal. There were not three but five monitors mounted on the wall, and a laptop on their desk. Well the laptop was on what keith assumed was a desk, though he really couldn’t be sure because of how much crap was covering it. Everything from paper robots, a strange green glowing metal triangle, 2 keyboards, and what must've been a years worth of candy wrappers. 

Noticing Keith’s staring, Pidge cleared his? their? throat. “Uhh yeah sorry I’m a little messy.” They flashed him an awkward smile.

“No it's fine.” Keith finally responded. “My partner’s pretty messy too, but I think you give him a run for his money.” Keith shuttered at the thought of Lance’s apartment before he moved in with Keith and Shiro. Keith walked over to his desk and begun unpacking his stuff. A laptop, a cactus, some pens and pencils, and a picture of him and Lance with the Boston skyline in the background. “By the way, what pronouns do you us? Um, I use he, him.”

Pidge turned around fully, obviously trying to sneakily eye Keith and his belongings up and down. “They/Them.” They smiled, “Thanks for asking. People usually just assume or get super awkward.” They wrinkled their nose, “Or both.”

“Oh, yeah. I mean it’s just common courtesy you shouldn’t have to thank me.” Keith replied, sitting down in his office chair. “I know what you mean about people being awkward and assuming though. Just because I don’t wear makeup or dress all flamboyant, doesn’t mean I’m straight.”

Pidge laughed, “Dude, yes! Like, doesn’t the world know queer nerdy people exist!” They pushed their hands against their desk and rolled the chair across the room and into Keith's desk. Fully invested in this conversation, Pidge pulled one leg up onto their chair and rested their elbows on Keith’s desk. 

Keith continued unpacking. He snorted, “Ugh tell me about it. Do you know how long it took me to get with my current partner? I was practically throwing myself at him! But he had convinced himself that there was no way in hell ‘the cute IT guy’ could be gay.” Sitting down, Keith opened his laptop and begun connecting to the WiFi and new monitors.

“This him?” Pidge grabbed the photo of Keith and Lance.

“Mmhm” Keith confirmed. “His name’s Lance. We’ve been together for about two years now.”

Pidge studied the photo. It was taken on a summer evening on a bridge looking over the boston skyline. Arms wrapped around each other, they are leaning on the railing of the old bridge. Keith was wearing his classic cargo shorts and maroon T-shirt with “Voltron Industries” in small font on the front- Lance it's a nice shirt, it's not my fault it also happens to be a work shirt. Keith’s hair was up in a messy bun, loose strands blowing in his face. Lance was wearing black joggers, a colorful, floral muscle-T and a backwards baseball cap(of course Red Sox, because that was the only acceptable hat in Boston). Keith was smiling at the camera, but Lance was staring at Keith. His smile was real. Not the smile he gave to clients. It was a smile just for Keith. That’s why this was Keith favorite photo of them.

“He must love you a lot to move all the way out here just for your work.” Pidge commented, gently placing the photo back down. They smiled, “You guys are cute, must make all the ladies jealous.”

Keith snorted, “Thanks. Yeah he does.” He smiled to himself looking at the photo. “So wanna show me all the ins and outs of this place? What’s our current assignment?”

Pidge immediately dove into an energetic conversation regarding all the things fucked up with Voltron Industries programs. Keith relaxed into the conversation. Patting himself on the back for not fucking up this introduction. Yeah, he knew him and Pidge would get along just fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also can anyone argue Keith wouldn’t be a huge crime show fan? Especially criminal minds??  
> PS for anyone who’s seen Criminal Minds: what would you call Garcia’s job title? FBI tech sounds def not correct....


End file.
